Streamlining Fleet Management Processes and Workstation Setup

10 Workstation Fleet Logistics John Beckett CPTE 433

What People See New Employees Workstation Prepared and waiting That would be nice! Would it provide for any choices by the new employee? Existing Employees Workstations being delivered (and removed) Workstations are replaced on some sort of schedule

What Employees Dont See Designation of what model will be delivered Purchasing of workstation & accessores Installation Network connection Network congestion OS loading Applications loading and so on

Processes in Fleet Management Purchasing: Acquiring from vendors Prep: All the steps needed to transform a purchased machine into a useful workstation Delivery: Take it to user location and set up Platform: Determine what hw/sw will be used, automate installs Network: Configure jacks, plan capacity, connect Tools: Program the glue that makes it all work together Project Management: Coordinate all these efforts

Purchasing Team Acquire machines in bulk Based on business plans: projects, hiring Special requirements: Keyboard layouts differ between countries Recent power supplies handle 120v or 240v, so only a cord or adapter must change. Presbyopia issues: Employees over 40 may need larger screen as their focusing muscles age From 1984-1987 we were installing desktops with 9 screens. Interestingly, the purchaser (me) became 40 years old in 1989 by which time we were buying larger screens! Do curved screens cause or exacerbate presbyopia? Control the inventory of purchased-but-not-installed machines so we can implement quickly but waste is minimized Are we buying obsolete machines? Tracking orders Processing warrantee returns Contract negotiation

Prep Team Labeling Record serial numbers, Mac Addresses OS installation Application installation Localization Keyboards, power plugs If prep is failing on one machine out of many, set it aside and deal with it separately

Delivery Team Physical placement of machines Laptops may merit a sign-off process Consider alternating people between prep and delivery, to increase synergy and relieve monotony Avoid the those idiots trap This is an opportunity to connect with users walking them through an intro document

Platform Team Defines the final product: all technical aspects Define and create prep room Good place for new/unskilled workers with technical supervisor How good this is depends on your testing protocol Work with purchasing to select new, deprecate old Can old be re-purposed, or do we get rid of it? Tech support to prep team Different platform teams for each major OS? Shared infrastructure Meet together often

Prep Room stations Multiple stations, so you can do multiple machines in parallel Include laptop power supplies at stations? Book says yes save time Beckett says no test those supplies! Include monitors? (see point above) KVM so you can control from one point Appropriate if you are doing desktops, not laptops Sticker printer so you can identify machines and enter into CMDB in one step

Transition to Network Team Ideas from Beckett: Provide a jack for each network segment in your prep room, so you ll know a workstation is ready to physically move to the customer s desk Set DHCP up so that unconfigured machines are routed to an error page

Network team Defines how computers connect Major tool is DHCP NAC: Network Access Control If a machine isn t in your network config, it shouldn t work use DHCP Special relationship with prep and delivery team so that a machine works properly when it is plugged in the first time

Tools Team Automation of tasks in fleet management New-hire delivery Refresh Forecasting & ordering Project Management Dashboards Remote Logistics Smaller sites may get by using spreadsheets

Project Management A project is defined in terms of outcome E.g. Deliver 12 machines for new hires in Marketing by this Friday Project may have milestones to track Workstations each week When each application is made available When/what type of training for users

Program Office Houses the Project Management teams Probably have a PM team for each ongoing project Creates standards for how projects are to be managed Defines how workstations should look to users Represents all these teams to management Creates and monitors metrics for end-to-end quality Continuous improvement is a major goal Beware of local optimizations that merely deflect a challenge from one team to another Just moving problems around Coordinates cross-training

Configuration Management Database All configuration information should be in a central database All configuration files and scripts should be automatically derived from this central database When a new machine is configured, the process should be controlled by the CMDB The CMDB is a major tool for researching: Network capacity needs Refresh cycle

Danger of Siloing Each team may make changes that improve its situation, but are costly to other teams success How to combat this? Regular meetings to discuss issues Focus on goals and processes, not conflict Informal events where people are likely to talk about them Rotate people between teams or have them do sabbaticals Assign errands that will put them in a different physical space (Management by Wandering Around)

Small-Scale Fleet Logistics In a small company, this may not be enough work for even one person. You should still have: Vendor list: contact names & numbers, history Installation procedures: Bullet list of steps Delivery checklist: What to take with you when delivering a machine Welcome letter

Full-Time Fleet Coordinators Hopefully you ll need to scale up Perhaps you ll have it run by a power user instead of an SA

Beyond the Text: Real Cost of Workstations Purchase cost Integrating into your environment Problems each design has Employee non-productive time Installation Training Effect on customer behavior due to lack of service Updating One company estimated this at $14,000 per year study done decades ago, when managers thought the major cost of a workstation was its $3,500 purchase price tag

Beyond the Text: Refresh Costs Not Refreshing Enough High rate of malfunctions New functions simply won t work Slow performance High employee costs Lost business to competition Refreshing Too Often Excessive capital costs Excessive installation costs Can t keep track of all the types of computers and their unique needs Excessive training costs Perhaps malfunctions due to resistance from customers What to do with discarded equipment? You are aiming for some sort of sweet spot on the curve

Is it the same or different? Non-Profit Key deliverable is complex Multi-dimensional In minds of supporters, not finance Money sources are a mix of contributions and pay for service/product If you have a significant goal, you may be able to transcend financial barriers Money is a reflector of support and an enabler of service, not the primary goal For-Profit Financial bottom-line is king Easy to make this good over short term The real test is over long term In both cases, the 3-5 year results are more significant than 1 year